Kildare farmer and long-time campaigner to run for Seanad

Matt Dempsey, former Editor of the Irish Farmers’ Journal and Chairman of the Food Vision Tillage Group will contest the upcoming elections for Seanad Éireann which take place by postal ballot from January 15.

Mr Dempsey has been nominated by the RDS to contest for one of 11 Seanad seats on the Agricultural panel.

Mr Dempsey is a cattle and tillage farmer near Celbridge and is married to Mary, and they have nine adult children.

MR Dempsey's roles have included chairman of the Irish National Stud and member of the Maynooth University Foundation Board.

The Agricultural panel is one of five vocational panels, the others being Cultural and Educational, Labour, Industrial and Commercial, and Administrative panels.

All elected members of county councils, city corporations, Dáil Éireann and outgoing members of Seanad Éireann can vote. Voting is by way of postal ballot with ballot papers issued on 15th January. The ballot closes on 30th January at 11 am for the vocational panels. 

Mr Dempsey said: “Seanad Eireann is an important part of our legislative framework. It provides opportunities to speak out on critical issues and have an input into laws and policies that affect people’s lives. These issues include rural as well as urban housing, the threats to foreign direct investment in a rapidly changing world and a loss of competitiveness if we don’t keep pace with scientific and technological developments.”

“We must support our indigenous enterprise sectors and, of these, farming and food production is by far our biggest sector. It underpins massive exports and tens of thousands of jobs and widely distributed economic activity right across the country.”

“The Seanad must also speak out on the disastrous Mercusor trade deal and the real damage this could wreak on Irish farming and our wider economy.”

Mr Dempsey is a farmer and agriculturalist. For 25 years he was editor of the Irish Farmers’ Journal, the globally recognized top news and technical publication serving farming, food production and rural life. While Editor, the Journal drove many campaigns including a campaign with the Irish Farmers’ Association which highlighted serious issues around animal welfare and traceability surrounding Brazilian beef exports into the European Union which forced a change of course from the European Commission.

He has been a life-long supporter of research and funding for sciences and innovation. He was Chairman of the two organisations that formed Teagasc which has gone on to become the one of the world’s leading agricultural research and advisory bodies.